[
  {
    "heading": "No. 1 — TO THE ELECTOR OF COLOGNE, FREDERICK MAXIMILIAN.[1]",
    "body": "ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE,--\n\nMusic from my fourth year has ever been my favorite pursuit. Thus early\nintroduced to the sweet Muse, who attuned my soul to pure harmony, I loved\nher, and sometimes ventured to think that I was beloved by her in return. I\nhave now attained my eleventh year, and my Muse often whispered to me in\nhours of inspiration,--Try to write down the harmonies in your soul. Only\neleven years old! thought I; does the character of an author befit me? and\nwhat would more mature artists say? I felt some trepidation; but my Muse\nwilled it--so I obeyed, and wrote.\n\nMay I now, therefore, Illustrious Prince, presume to lay the first-fruits\nof my juvenile labors at the foot of your throne? and may I hope that you\nwill condescend to cast an encouraging and kindly glance on them? You will;\nfor Art and Science have ever found in you a judicious protector and a\ngenerous patron, and rising talent has always prospered under your\nfostering and fatherly care. Encouraged by this cheering conviction, I\nventure to approach you with these my youthful efforts. Accept them as the\npure offering of childlike reverence, and graciously vouchsafe to regard\nwith indulgence them and their youthful composer,\n\nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: The dedication affixed to this work, \"Three Sonatas for the\nPiano, dedicated to my illustrious master, Maximilian Friedrich, Archbishop\nand Elector of Cologne, by Ludwig van Beethoven in his eleventh year,\" is\nprobably not written by the boy himself, but is given here as an amusing\ncontrast to his subsequent ideas with regard to the homage due to rank.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "THE ELECTOR OF COLOGNE, FREDERICK MAXIMILIAN.[1]",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 4 — TO ELEONORE VON BREUNING,--BONN.",
    "body": "Vienna, Nov. 2, 1793.\n\nMY HIGHLY ESTEEMED ELEONORE, MY DEAREST FRIEND,--\n\nA year of my stay in this capital has nearly elapsed before you receive a\nletter from me, and yet the most vivid remembrance of you is ever present\nwith me. I have often conversed in thought with you and your dear family,\nthough not always in the happy mood I could have wished, for that fatal\nmisunderstanding still hovered before me, and my conduct at that time is\nnow hateful in my sight. But so it was, and how much would I give to have\nthe power wholly to obliterate from my life a mode of acting so degrading\nto myself, and so contrary to the usual tenor of my character!\n\nMany circumstances, indeed, contributed to estrange us, and I suspect that\nthose tale-bearers who repeated alternately to you and to me our mutual\nexpressions were the chief obstacles to any good understanding between us.\nEach believed that what was said proceeded from deliberate conviction,\nwhereas it arose only from anger, fanned by others; so we were both\nmistaken. Your good and noble disposition, my dear friend, is sufficient\nsecurity that you have long since forgiven me. We are told that the best\nproof of sincere contrition is to acknowledge our faults; and this is what\nI wish to do. Let us now draw a veil over the whole affair, learning one\nlesson from it,--that when friends are at variance, it is always better to\nemploy no mediator, but to communicate directly with each other.\n\nWith this you will receive a dedication from me [the variations on \"Se vuol\nballare\"]. My sole wish is that the work were greater and more worthy of\nyou. I was applied to here to publish this little work, and I take\nadvantage of the opportunity, my beloved Eleonore, to give you a proof of\nmy regard and friendship for yourself, and also a token of my enduring\nremembrance of your family. Pray then accept this trifle, and do not forget\nthat it is offered by a devoted friend. Oh! if it only gives you pleasure,\nmy wishes will be fulfilled. May it in some degree recall the time when I\npassed so many happy hours in your house! Perhaps it may serve to remind\nyou of me till I return, though this is indeed a distant prospect. Oh! how\nwe shall then rejoice together, my dear Eleonore! You will, I trust, find\nyour friend a happier man, all former forbidding, careworn furrows smoothed\naway by time and better fortune.\n\nWhen you see B. Koch [subsequently Countess Belderbusch], pray say that it\nis unkind in her never once to have written to me. I wrote to her twice,\nand three times to Malchus (afterwards Westphalian Minister of Finance),\nbut no answer. Tell her that if she does not choose to write herself, I beg\nthat she will at least urge Malchus to do so. At the close of my letter I\nventure to make one more request--I am anxious to be so fortunate as again\nto possess an Angola waistcoat knitted by your own hand, my dear friend.\nForgive my indiscreet request; it proceeds from my great love for all that\ncomes from you; and I may privately admit that a little vanity is connected\nwith it, namely, that I may say I possess something from the best and most\nadmired young lady in Bonn. I still have the one you were so good as to\ngive me in Bonn; but change of fashion has made it look so antiquated, that\nI can only treasure it in my wardrobe as your gift, and thus still very\ndear to me. You would make me very happy by soon writing me a kind letter.\nIf mine cause you any pleasure, I promise you to do as you wish, and write\nas often as it lies in my power; indeed everything is acceptable to me that\ncan serve to show you how truly I am your admiring and sincere friend,\n\nL. V. BEETHOVEN.\n\nP.S. The variations are rather difficult to play, especially the shake in\nthe _Coda_; but do not be alarmed at this, being so contrived that you only\nrequire to play the shake, and leave out the other notes, which also occur\nin the violin part. I never would have written it in this way, had I not\noccasionally observed that there was a certain individual in Vienna who,\nwhen I extemporized the previous evening, not unfrequently wrote down next\nday many of the peculiarities of my music, adopting them as his own [for\ninstance, the Abbé Gelinek]. Concluding, therefore, that some of these\nthings would soon appear, I resolved to anticipate this. Another reason\nalso was to puzzle some of the pianoforte teachers here, many of whom are\nmy mortal foes; so I wished to revenge myself on them in this way, knowing\nthat they would occasionally be asked to play the variations, when these\ngentlemen would not appear to much advantage.\n\nBEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "ELEONORE VON BREUNING,--BONN",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 12 — TO PASTOR AMENDA,--COURLAND.",
    "body": "Does Amenda think that I can ever forget him, because I do not write? in\nfact, never have written to him?--as if the memory of our friends could\nonly thus be preserved! The _best man I ever knew_ has a thousand times\nrecurred to my thoughts! Two persons alone once possessed my whole love,\none of whom still lives, and you are now the third. How can my remembrance\nof you ever fade? You will shortly receive a long letter about my present\ncircumstances and all that can interest you. Farewell, beloved, good, and\nnoble friend! Ever continue your love and friendship towards me, just as I\nshall ever be your faithful\n\nBEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "PASTOR AMENDA,--COURLAND",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 13 — TO PASTOR AMENDA.",
    "body": "1800.\n\nMY DEAR, MY GOOD AMENDA, MY WARM-HEARTED FRIEND,--\n\nI received and read your last letter with deep emotion, and with mingled\npain and pleasure. To what can I compare your fidelity and devotion to me?\nAh! it is indeed delightful that you still continue to love me so well. I\nknow how to prize you, and to distinguish you from all others; you are not\nlike my Vienna friends. No! you are one of those whom the soil of my\nfatherland is wont to bring forth; how often I wish that you were with me,\nfor your Beethoven is very unhappy. You must know that one of my most\nprecious faculties, that of hearing, is become very defective; even while\nyou were still with me I felt indications of this, though I said nothing;\nbut it is now much worse. Whether I shall ever be cured remains yet to be\nseen; it is supposed to proceed from the state of my digestive organs, but\nI am almost entirely recovered in that respect. I hope indeed that my\nhearing may improve, but I scarcely think so, for attacks of this kind are\nthe most incurable of all. How sad my life must now be!--forced to shun all\nthat is most dear and precious to me, and to live with such miserable\negotists as ----, &c. I can with truth say that of all my friends\nLichnowsky [Prince Carl] is the most genuine. He last year settled 600\nflorins on me, which, together with the good sale of my works, enables me\nto live free from care as to my maintenance. All that I now write I can\ndispose of five times over, and be well paid into the bargain. I have been\nwriting a good deal latterly, and as I hear that you have ordered some\npianos from ----, I will send you some of my compositions in the\npacking-case of one of these instruments, by which means they will not cost\nyou so much.\n\nTo my great comfort, a person has returned here with whom I can enjoy the\npleasures of society and disinterested friendship,--one of the friends of\nmy youth [Stephan von Breuning]. I have often spoken to him of you, and\ntold him that since I left my fatherland, you are one of those to whom my\nheart specially clings. Z. [Zmeskall?] does not seem quite to please him;\nhe is, and always will be, too weak for true friendship, and I look on him\nand ---- as mere instruments on which I play as I please, but never can\nthey bear noble testimony to my inner and outward energies, or feel true\nsympathy with me; I value them only in so far as their services deserve.\nOh! how happy should I now be, had I my full sense of hearing; I would then\nhasten to you; whereas, as it is, I must withdraw from everything. My best\nyears will thus pass away, without effecting what my talents and powers\nmight have enabled me to perform. How melancholy is the resignation in\nwhich I must take refuge! I had determined to rise superior to all this,\nbut how is it possible? If in the course of six months my malady be\npronounced incurable then, Amenda! I shall appeal to you to leave all else\nand come to me, when I intend to travel (my affliction is less distressing\nwhen playing and composing, and most so in intercourse with others), and\nyou must be my companion. I have a conviction that good fortune will not\nforsake me, for to what may I not at present aspire? Since you were here I\nhave written everything except operas and church music. You will not, I\nknow, refuse my petition; you will help your friend to bear his burden and\nhis calamity. I have also very much perfected my pianoforte playing, and I\nhope that a journey of this kind may possibly contribute to your own\nsuccess in life, and you would thenceforth always remain with me. I duly\nreceived all your letters, and though I did not reply to them, you were\nconstantly present with me, and my heart beats as tenderly as ever for you.\nI beg you will keep the fact of my deafness a profound secret, and not\nconfide it to any human being. Write to me frequently; your letters,\nhowever short, console and cheer me; so I shall soon hope to hear from you.\n\nDo not give your quartet to any one [in F, Op. 18, No. 1], as I have\naltered it very much, having only now succeeded in writing quartets\nproperly; this you will at once perceive when you receive it. Now,\nfarewell, my dear kind friend! If by any chance I can serve you here, I\nneed not say that you have only to command me.\n\nYour faithful and truly attached\n\nL. V. BEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "PASTOR AMENDA",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 15 — TO COUNTESS GIULIETTA GUICCIARDI.[1]",
    "body": "Morning, July 6, 1800.\n\nMY ANGEL! MY ALL! MY SECOND SELF!\n\nOnly a few words to-day, written with a pencil (your own). My residence\ncannot be settled till to-morrow. What a tiresome loss of time! Why this\ndeep grief when necessity compels?--can our love exist without sacrifices,\nand by refraining from desiring all things? Can you alter the fact that you\nare not wholly mine, nor I wholly yours? Ah! contemplate the beauties of\nNature, and reconcile your spirit to the inevitable. Love demands all, and\nhas a right to do so, and thus it is _I feel towards you_ and _you towards\nme_; but you do not sufficiently remember that I must live both _for you_\nand _for myself_. Were we wholly united, you would feel this sorrow as\nlittle as I should. My journey was terrible. I did not arrive here till\nfour o'clock yesterday morning, as no horses were to be had. The drivers\nchose another route; but what a dreadful one it was! At the last stage I\nwas warned not to travel through the night, and to beware of a certain\nwood, but this only incited me to go forward, and I was wrong. The carriage\nbroke down, owing to the execrable roads, mere deep rough country lanes,\nand had it not been for the postilions I must have been left by the\nwayside. Esterhazy, travelling the usual road, had the same fate with eight\nhorses, whereas I had only four. Still I felt a certain degree of pleasure,\nwhich I invariably do when I have happily surmounted any difficulty. But I\nmust now pass from the outer to the inner man. We shall, I trust, soon meet\nagain; to-day I cannot impart to you all the reflections I have made,\nduring the last few days, on my life; were our hearts closely united\nforever, none of these would occur to me. My heart is overflowing with all\nI have to say to you. Ah! there are moments when I find that speech is\nactually nothing. Take courage! Continue to be ever my true and only love,\nmy all! as I am yours. The gods must ordain what is further to be and shall\nbe!\n\nYour faithful\n\nLUDWIG.\n\nMonday Evening, July 6.\n\nYou grieve! dearest of all beings! I have just heard that the letters must\nbe sent off very early. Mondays and Thursdays are the only days when the\npost goes to K. from here. You grieve! Ah! where I am, there you are ever\nwith me; how earnestly shall I strive to pass my life with you, and what a\nlife will it be!!! Whereas now!! without you!! and persecuted by the\nkindness of others, which I neither deserve nor try to deserve! The\nservility of man towards his fellow-man pains me, and when I regard myself\nas a component part of the universe, what am I, what is he who is called\nthe greatest?--and yet herein are displayed the godlike feelings of\nhumanity!--I weep in thinking that you will receive no intelligence from me\ntill probably Saturday. However dearly you may love me, I love you more\nfondly still. Never conceal your feelings from me. Good-night! As a patient\nat these baths, I must now go to rest [a few words are here effaced by\nBeethoven himself]. Oh, heavens! so near, and yet so far! Is not our love a\ntruly celestial mansion, but firm as the vault of heaven itself?\n\nJuly 7.\n\nGOOD-MORNING!\n\nEven before I rise, my thoughts throng to you, my immortal\nbeloved!--sometimes full of joy, and yet again sad, waiting to see whether\nFate will hear us. I must live either wholly with you, or not at all.\nIndeed I have resolved to wander far from you [see No. 13] till the moment\narrives when I can fly into your arms, and feel that they are my home, and\nsend forth my soul in unison with yours into the realm of spirits. Alas! it\nmust be so! You will take courage, for you know my fidelity. Never can\nanother possess my heart--never, never! Oh, heavens! Why must I fly from\nher I so fondly love? and yet my existence in W. was as miserable as here.\nYour love made me the most happy and yet the most unhappy of men. At my\nage, life requires a uniform equality; can this be found in our mutual\nrelations? My angel! I have this moment heard that the post goes every day,\nso I must conclude, that you may get this letter the sooner. Be calm! for\nwe can only attain our object of living together by the calm contemplation\nof our existence. Continue to love me. Yesterday, to-day, what longings for\nyou, what tears for you! for you! for you! my life! my all! Farewell! Oh!\nlove me forever, and never doubt the faithful heart of your lover, L.\n\nEver thine.\nEver mine.\nEver each other's.\n\n[Footnote 1: These letters to his \"immortal beloved,\" to whom the C sharp\nminor Sonata is dedicated, appear here for the first time in their\nintegrity, in accordance with the originals written in pencil on fine\nnotepaper, and given in Schindler's _Beethoven's Nachlass_. There has been\nmuch discussion about the date. It is certified, in the first place, in the\nchurch register which Alex. Thayer saw in Vienna, that Giulietta was\nmarried to Count Gallenberg in 1801; and in the next place, the 6th of July\nfalls on a Monday in 1800. The other reasons which induce me decidedly to\nfix this latter year as the date of the letter, I mean to give at full\nlength in the second volume of _Beethoven's Biography_. I may also state\nthat Beethoven was at baths in Hungary at that time. Whether the K---- in\nthe second letter means Komorn, I cannot tell.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "COUNTESS GIULIETTA GUICCIARDI.[1]",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 16 — TO MATTHISSON.",
    "body": "Vienna, August 4, 1800.\n\nMOST ESTEEMED FRIEND,--\n\nYou will receive with this one of my compositions published some years\nsince, and yet, to my shame, you probably have never heard of it. I cannot\nattempt to excuse myself, or to explain why I dedicated a work to you which\ncame direct from my heart, but never acquainted you with its existence,\nunless indeed in this way, that at first I did not know where you lived,\nand partly also from diffidence, which led me to think I might have been\npremature in dedicating a work to you before ascertaining that you approved\nof it. Indeed, even now I send you \"Adelaide\" with a feeling of timidity.\nYou know yourself what changes the lapse of some years brings forth in an\nartist who continues to make progress; the greater the advances we make in\nart, the less are we satisfied with our works of an earlier date. My most\nardent wish will be fulfilled if you are not dissatisfied with the manner\nin which I have set your heavenly \"Adelaide\" to music, and are incited by\nit soon to compose a similar poem; and if you do not consider my request\ntoo indiscreet, I would ask you to send it to me forthwith, that I may\nexert all my energies to approach your lovely poetry in merit. Pray regard\nthe dedication as a token of the pleasure which your \"Adelaide\" conferred\non me, as well as of the appreciation and intense delight your poetry\nalways has inspired, and _always will inspire in me_.\n\nWhen playing \"Adelaide,\" sometimes recall\n\nYour sincere admirer,\n\nBEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "MATTHISSON",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 18 — TO HERR VON WEGELER.",
    "body": "Vienna, Nov. 16, 1800.\n\nMY DEAR WEGELER,--\n\nI thank you for this fresh proof of your interest in me, especially as I so\nlittle deserve it. You wish to know how I am, and what remedies I use.\nUnwilling as I always feel to discuss this subject, still I feel less\nreluctant to do so with you than with any other person. For some months\npast Vering has ordered me to apply blisters on both arms, of a particular\nkind of bark, with which you are probably acquainted,--a disagreeable\nremedy, independent of the pain, as it deprives me of the free use of my\narms for a couple of days at a time, till the blisters have drawn\nsufficiently. The ringing and buzzing in my ears have certainly rather\ndecreased, particularly in the left ear, in which the malady first\ncommenced, but my hearing is not at all improved; in fact I fear that it is\nbecome rather worse. My health is better, and after using the tepid baths\nfor a time, I feel pretty well for eight or ten days. I seldom take tonics,\nbut I have begun applications of herbs, according to your advice. Vering\nwill not hear of plunge baths, but I am much dissatisfied with him; he is\nneither so attentive nor so indulgent as he ought to be to such a malady;\nif I did not go to him, which is no easy matter, I should never see him at\nall. What is your opinion of Schmidt [an army surgeon]? I am unwilling to\nmake any change, but it seems to me that Vering is too much of a\npractitioner to acquire new ideas by reading. On this point Schmidt appears\nto be a very different man, and would probably be less negligent with\nregard to my case. I hear wonders of galvanism; what do you say to it? A\nphysician told me that he knew a deaf and dumb child whose hearing was\nrestored by it (in Berlin), and likewise a man who had been deaf for seven\nyears, and recovered his hearing. I am told that your friend Schmidt is at\nthis moment making experiments on the subject.\n\nI am now leading a somewhat more agreeable life, as of late I have been\nassociating more with other people. You could scarcely believe what a sad\nand dreary life mine has been for the last two years; my defective hearing\neverywhere pursuing me like a spectre, making me fly from every one, and\nappear a misanthrope; and yet no one is in reality less so! This change has\nbeen wrought by a lovely fascinating girl [undoubtedly Giulietta], who\nloves me and whom I love. I have once more had some blissful moments during\nthe last two years, and it is the first time I ever felt that marriage\ncould make me happy. Unluckily, she is not in my rank of life, and indeed\nat this moment I can marry no one; I must first bestir myself actively in\nthe world. Had it not been for my deafness, I would have travelled half\nround the globe ere now, and this I must still do. For me there is no\npleasure so great as to promote and to pursue my art.\n\nDo not suppose that I could be happy with you. What indeed could make me\nhappier? Your very solicitude would distress me; I should read your\ncompassion every moment in your countenance, which would make me only still\nmore unhappy. What were my thoughts amid the glorious scenery of my\nfather-land? The hope alone of a happier future, which would have been mine\nbut for this affliction! Oh! I could span the world were I only free from\nthis! I feel that my youth is only now commencing. Have I not always been\nan infirm creature? For some time past my bodily strength has been\nincreasing, and it is the same with my mental powers. I feel, though I\ncannot describe it, that I daily approach the object I have in view, in\nwhich alone can your Beethoven live. No rest for him!--I know of none but\nin sleep, and I do grudge being obliged to sacrifice more time to it than\nformerly.[1] Were I only half cured of my malady, then I would come to you,\nand, as a more perfect and mature man, renew our old friendship.\n\nYou should then see me as happy as I am ever destined to be here below--not\nunhappy. No! that I could not endure; I will boldly meet my fate, never\nshall it succeed in crushing me. Oh! it is so glorious to live one's life a\nthousand times over! I feel that I am no longer made for a quiet existence.\nYou will write to me as soon as possible? Pray try to prevail on Steffen\n[von Breuning] to seek an appointment from the Teutonic Order somewhere.\nLife here is too harassing for his health; besides, he is so isolated that\nI do not see how he is ever to get on. You know the kind of existence here.\nI do not take it upon myself to say that society would dispel his\nlassitude, but he cannot be persuaded to go anywhere. A short time since, I\nhad some music in my house, but our friend Steffen stayed away. Do\nrecommend him to be more calm and self-possessed, which I have in vain\ntried to effect; otherwise he can neither enjoy health nor happiness. Tell\nme in your next letter whether you care about my sending you a large\nselection of music; you can indeed dispose of what you do not want, and\nthus repay the expense of the carriage, and have my portrait into the\nbargain. Say all that is kind and amiable from me to Lorchen, and also to\nmamma and Christoph. You still have some regard for me? Always rely on the\nlove as well as the friendship of your\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Too much sleep is hurtful\" is marked by a thick score in the\nOdyssey (45, 393) by Beethoven's hand. See Schindler's _Beethoven's\nNachlass_.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "HERR VON WEGELER",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 20 — TO KAPELLMEISTER HOFMEISTER.",
    "body": "Vienna, Jan. 15 (or thereabouts), 1801.\n\nI read your letter, dear brother and friend, with much pleasure, and I\nthank you for your good opinion of me and of my works, and hope I may\ncontinue to deserve it. I also beg you to present all due thanks to Herr K.\n[Kühnel] for his politeness and friendship towards me. I, on my part,\nrejoice in your undertakings, and am glad that when works of art do turn\nout profitable, they fall to the share of true artists, rather than to that\nof mere tradesmen.\n\nYour intention to publish Sebastian Bach's works really gladdens my heart,\nwhich beats with devotion for the lofty and grand productions of this our\nfather of the science of harmony, and I trust I shall soon see them appear.\nI hope when golden peace is proclaimed, and your subscription list opened,\nto procure you many subscribers here.[1]\n\nWith regard to our own transactions, as you wish to know my proposals, they\nare as follows. I offer you at present the following works:--The Septet\n(which I already wrote to you about), 20 ducats; Symphony, 20 ducats;\nConcerto, 10 ducats; Grand Solo Sonata, _allegro, adagio, minuetto, rondo_,\n20 ducats. This Sonata [Op. 22] is well up to the mark, my dear brother!\n\nNow for explanations. You may perhaps be surprised that I make no\ndifference of price between the sonata, septet, and symphony. I do so\nbecause I find that a septet or a symphony has not so great a sale as a\nsonata, though a symphony ought unquestionably to be of the most value.\n(N.B. The septet consists of a short introductory _adagio_, an _allegro,\nadagio, minuetto, andante_, with variations, _minuetto_, and another short\n_adagio_ preceding a _presto_.) I only ask ten ducats for the concerto,\nfor, as I already wrote to you, I do not consider it one of my best. I\ncannot think that, taken as a whole, you will consider these prices\nexorbitant; at least, I have endeavored to make them as moderate as\npossible for you.\n\nWith regard to the banker's draft, as you give me my choice, I beg you will\nmake it payable by Germüller or Schüller. The entire sum for the four works\nwill amount to 70 ducats; I understand no currency but Vienna ducats, so\nhow many dollars in gold they make in your money is no affair of mine, for\nreally I am a very bad man of business and accountant. Now this\n_troublesome_ business is concluded;--I call it so, heartily wishing that\nit could be otherwise here below! There ought to be only one grand _dépôt_\nof art in the world, to which the artist might repair with his works, and\non presenting them receive what he required; but as it now is, one must be\nhalf a tradesman besides--and how is this to be endured? Good heavens! I\nmay well call it _troublesome_!\n\nAs for the Leipzig oxen,[2] let them talk!--they certainly will make no man\nimmortal by their prating, and as little can they deprive of immortality\nthose whom Apollo destines to attain it.\n\nNow may Heaven preserve you and your colleagues! I have been unwell for\nsome time; so it is rather difficult for me at present to write even music,\nmuch more letters. I trust we shall have frequent opportunities to assure\neach other how truly you are my friend, and I yours.\n\nI hope for a speedy answer. Adieu!\n\nL. V. BEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: I have at this moment in my hands this edition of Bach, bound\nin one thick volume, together with the first part of Nägeli's edition of\nthe _Wohltemperirtes Clavier_, also three books of exercises (D, G, and C\nminor), the _Toccata in D Minor_, and _Twice Fifteen Inventions_.]\n\n[Footnote 2: It is thus that Schindler supplies the gap. It is probably an\nallusion to the _Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung_, founded about three\nyears previously.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "KAPELLMEISTER HOFMEISTER",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 25 — TO HERR HOFMEISTER,--LEIPZIG.",
    "body": "Vienna, April 8, 1802.\n\nDo you mean to go post-haste to the devil, gentlemen, by proposing that I\nshould write _such_ a _sonata_? During the revolutionary fever, a thing of\nthe kind might have been appropriate, but now, when everything is falling\nagain into the beaten track, and Bonaparte has concluded a _Concordat_ with\nthe Pope--such a sonata as this? If it were a _missa pro Sancta Maria à tre\nvoci_, or a _vesper_, &c., then I would at once take up my pen and write a\n_Credo in unum_, in gigantic semibreves. But, good heavens! such a sonata,\nin this fresh dawning Christian epoch. No, no!--it won't do, and I will\nhave none of it.\n\nNow for my answer in quickest _tempo_. The lady can have a sonata from me,\nand I am willing to adopt the general outlines of her plan in an\n_aesthetical_ point of view, without adhering to the keys named. The price\nto be five ducats; for this sum she can keep the work a year for her own\namusement, without either of us being entitled to publish it. After the\nlapse of a year, the sonata to revert to me--that is, I can and will then\npublish it, when, if she considers it any distinction, she may request me\nto dedicate it to her.\n\nI now, gentlemen, commend you to the grace of God. My Sonata [Op. 22] is\nwell engraved, but you have been a fine time about it! I hope you will\nusher my Septet into the world a little quicker, as the P---- is waiting\nfor it, and you know the Empress has it; and when there are in this\nimperial city people like ----, I cannot be answerable for the result; so\nlose no time!\n\nHerr ---- [Mollo?] has lately published my Quartets [Op. 18] full of faults\nand _errata_, both large and small, which swarm in them like fish in the\nsea; that is, they are innumerable. _Questo è un piacere per un\nautore_--this is what I call engraving [_stechen_, stinging] with a\nvengeance.[1] In truth, my skin is a mass of punctures and scratches from\nthis fine edition of my Quartets! Now farewell, and think of me as I do of\nyou. Till death, your faithful\n\nL. V. BEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: In reference to the musical piracy at that time very prevalent\nin Austria.]\n\n\n26.[1]\n\nTO MY BROTHERS CARL AND JOHANN BEETHOVEN.\n\nHeiligenstadt, Oct. 6, 1802.\n\nOh! ye who think or declare me to be hostile, morose, and misanthropical,\nhow unjust you are, and how little you know the secret cause of what\nappears thus to you! My heart and mind were ever from childhood prone to\nthe most tender feelings of affection, and I was always disposed to\naccomplish something great. But you must remember that six years ago I was\nattacked by an incurable malady, aggravated by unskilful physicians,\ndeluded from year to year, too, by the hope of relief, and at length forced\nto the conviction of a _lasting affliction_ (the cure of which may go on\nfor years, and perhaps after all prove impracticable).\n\nBorn with a passionate and excitable temperament, keenly susceptible to the\npleasures of society, I was yet obliged early in life to isolate myself,\nand to pass my existence in solitude. If I at any time resolved to surmount\nall this, oh! how cruelly was I again repelled by the experience, sadder\nthan ever, of my defective hearing!--and yet I found it impossible to say\nto others: Speak louder; shout! for I am deaf! Alas! how could I proclaim\nthe deficiency of a sense which ought to have been more perfect with me\nthan with other men,--a sense which I once possessed in the highest\nperfection, to an extent, indeed, that few of my profession ever enjoyed!\nAlas, I cannot do this! Forgive me therefore when you see me withdraw from\nyou with whom I would so gladly mingle. My misfortune is doubly severe from\ncausing me to be misunderstood. No longer can I enjoy recreation in social\nintercourse, refined conversation, or mutual outpourings of thought.\nCompletely isolated, I only enter society when compelled to do so. I must\nlive like an exile. In company I am assailed by the most painful\napprehensions, from the dread of being exposed to the risk of my condition\nbeing observed. It was the same during the last six months I spent in the\ncountry. My intelligent physician recommended me to spare my hearing as\nmuch as possible, which was quite in accordance with my present\ndisposition, though sometimes, tempted by my natural inclination for\nsociety, I allowed myself to be beguiled into it. But what humiliation when\nany one beside me heard a flute in the far distance, while I heard\n_nothing_, or when others heard _a shepherd singing_, and I still heard\n_nothing_! Such things brought me to the verge of desperation, and wellnigh\ncaused me to put an end to my life. _Art! art_ alone, deterred me. Ah! how\ncould I possibly quit the world before bringing forth all that I felt it\nwas my vocation to produce?[2] And thus I spared this miserable life--so\nutterly miserable that any sudden change may reduce me at any moment from\nmy best condition into the worst. It is decreed that I must now choose\n_Patience_ for my guide! This I have done. I hope the resolve will not fail\nme, steadfastly to persevere till it may please the inexorable Fates to cut\nthe thread of my life. Perhaps I may get better, perhaps not. I am prepared\nfor either. Constrained to become a philosopher in my twenty-eighth\nyear![3] This is no slight trial, and more severe on an artist than on any\none else. God looks into my heart, He searches it, and knows that love for\nman and feelings of benevolence have their abode there! Oh! ye who may one\nday read this, think that you have done me injustice, and let any one\nsimilarly afflicted be consoled, by finding one like himself, who, in\ndefiance of all the obstacles of Nature, has done all in his power to be\nincluded in the ranks of estimable artists and men. My brothers Carl and\nJohann, as soon as I am no more, if Professor Schmidt [see Nos. 18 and 23]\nbe still alive, beg him in my name to describe my malady, and to add these\npages to the analysis of my disease, that at least, so far as possible, the\nworld may be reconciled to me after my death. I also hereby declare you\nboth heirs of my small fortune (if so it may be called). Share it fairly,\nagree together and assist each other. You know that anything you did to\ngive me pain has been long forgiven. I thank you, my brother Carl in\nparticular, for the attachment you have shown me of late. My wish is that\nyou may enjoy a happier life, and one more free from care, than mine has\nbeen. Recommend _Virtue_ to your children; that alone, and not wealth, can\nensure happiness. I speak from experience. It was _Virtue_ alone which\nsustained me in my misery; I have to thank her and Art for not having ended\nmy life by suicide. Farewell! Love each other. I gratefully thank all my\nfriends, especially Prince Lichnowsky and Professor Schmidt. I wish one of\nyou to keep Prince L----'s instruments; but I trust this will give rise to\nno dissension between you. If you think it more beneficial, however, you\nhave only to dispose of them. How much I shall rejoice if I can serve you\neven in the grave! So be it then! I joyfully hasten to meet Death. If he\ncomes before I have had the opportunity of developing all my artistic\npowers, then, notwithstanding my cruel fate, he will come too early for me,\nand I should wish for him at a more distant period; but even then I shall\nbe content, for his advent will release me from a state of endless\nsuffering. Come when he may, I shall meet him with courage. Farewell! Do\nnot quite forget me, even in death; I deserve this from you, because during\nmy life I so often thought of you, and wished to make you happy. Amen!\n\nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.\n\n(_Written on the Outside._)\n\nThus, then, I take leave of you, and with sadness too. The fond hope I\nbrought with me here, of being to a certain degree cured, now utterly\nforsakes me. As autumn leaves fall and wither, so are my hopes blighted.\nAlmost as I came, I depart. Even the lofty courage that so often animated\nme in the lovely days of summer is gone forever. O Providence! vouchsafe me\none day of pure felicity! How long have I been estranged from the glad echo\nof true joy! When! O my God! when shall I again feel it in the temple of\nNature and of man?--never? Ah! that would be too hard!\n\n(_Outside._)\n\nTo be read and fulfilled after my death by my brothers Carl and Johann.\n\n[Footnote 1: This beautiful letter I regret not to have seen in the\noriginal, it being in the possession of the violin _virtuoso_ Ernst, in\nLondon. I have adhered to the version given in the Leipzig _Allgemeine\nMusikalische Zeitung_, Oct. 1827.]\n\n[Footnote 2: A large portion of the _Eroica_ was written in the course of\nthis summer, but not completed till August, 1804.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Beethoven did not at that time know in what year he was born.\nSee the subsequent letter of May 2, 1810. He was then far advanced in his\nthirty-third year.]\n\n\n27.\n\nNOTICE.\n\nNovember, 1802.\n\nI owe it to the public and to myself to state that the two quintets in C\nand E flat major--one of these (arranged from a symphony of mine) published\nby Herr Mollo in Vienna, and the other (taken from my Septet, Op. 20) by\nHerr Hofmeister in Leipzig--are not original quintets, but only versions of\nthe aforesaid works given by the publishers. Arrangements in these days (so\nfruitful in--arrangements) an author will find it vain to contend against;\nbut we may at least justly demand that the fact should be mentioned in the\ntitle-page, neither to injure the reputation of the author nor to deceive\nthe public. This notice is given to prevent anything of the kind in future.\nI also beg to announce that shortly a new original quintet of my\ncomposition, in C major, Op. 29, will appear at Breitkopf & Härtel's in\nLeipzig.\n\nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "HERR HOFMEISTER,--LEIPZIG",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 38 — TO HERR RIES.",
    "body": "Berlin, July 24, 1804.\n\n... You were no doubt not a little surprised about the affair with\nBreuning; believe me, my dear friend, that the ebullition on my part was\nonly an outbreak caused by many previous scenes of a disagreeable nature. I\nhave the gift of being able to conceal and to repress my susceptibility on\nmany occasions; but if attacked at a time when I chance to be peculiarly\nirritable, I burst forth more violently than any one. Breuning certainly\npossesses many admirable qualities, but he thinks himself quite faultless;\nwhereas the very defects that he discovers in others are those which he\npossesses himself to the highest degree. From my childhood I have always\ndespised his petty mind. My powers of discrimination enabled me to foresee\nthe result with Breuning, for our modes of thinking, acting, and feeling\nare entirely opposite; and yet I believed that these difficulties might be\novercome, but experience has disproved this. So now I want no more of his\nfriendship! I have only found two friends in the world with whom I never\nhad a misunderstanding; but what men these were! One is dead, the other\nstill lives. Although for nearly six years past we have seen nothing of\neach other, yet I know that I still hold the first place in his heart, as\nhe does in mine [see No. 12]. The true basis of friendship is to be found\nin sympathy of heart and soul. I only wish you could have read the letter I\nwrote to Breuning, and his to me. No! never can he be restored to his\nformer place in my heart. The man who could attribute to his friend so base\na mode of thinking, and could himself have recourse to so base a mode of\nacting towards him, is no longer worthy of my friendship.\n\nDo not forget the affair of my apartments. Farewell! Do not be too much\naddicted to tailoring,[1] remember me to the fairest of the fair, and send\nme half a dozen needles.\n\nI never could have believed that I could be so idle as I am here. If this\nbe followed by a fit of industry, something worth while may be produced.\n\n_Vale!_ Your\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: Ries says, in Wegeler's _Biographical Notices_:--\"Beethoven\nnever visited me more frequently than when I lived in the house of a\ntailor, with three very handsome but thoroughly respectable daughters.\"]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "HERR RIES",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 43 — TO HERR RÖCKEL.[1]",
    "body": "DEAR RÖCKEL,--\n\nBe sure that you arrange matters properly with Mdlle. Milder, and say to\nher previously from me, that I hope she will not sing anywhere else. I\nintend to call on her to-morrow, to kiss the hem of her garment. Do not\nalso forget Marconi, and forgive me for giving you so much trouble.\n\nYours wholly,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: Röckel, in 1806 tenor at the Theatre \"an der Wien,\" sang the\npart of Florestan in the spring of that year, when _Fidelio_ was revived.\nMdlle. Milder, afterwards Mdme. Hauptmann, played Leonore; Mdme. Marconi\nwas also prima donna.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "HERR RÖCKEL.[1]",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 47 — TO COUNT FRANZ VON OPPERSDORF.[1]",
    "body": "Vienna, Nov. 1, 1808 [_sic!_].\n\nMY DEAR COUNT,--\n\nI fear you will look on me with displeasure when I tell you that necessity\ncompelled me not only to dispose of the symphony I wrote for you, but to\ntransfer another also to some one else. Be assured, however, that you shall\nsoon receive the one I intend for you. I hope that both you and the\nCountess, to whom I beg my kind regards, have been well since we met. I am\nat this moment staying with Countess Erdödy in the apartments below those\nof Prince Lichnowsky. I mention this in case you do me the honor to call on\nme when you are in Vienna. My circumstances are improving, without having\nrecourse to the intervention of people _who treat their friends\ninsultingly_. I have also the offer of being made _Kapellmeister_ to the\nKing of Westphalia, and it is possible that I may accept the proposal.\nFarewell, and sometimes think of your attached friend,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: The fourth Symphony is dedicated to Count Oppersdorf.]\n\n\n48.[1]\n\nI fear I am too late for to-day, but I have only now been able to get back\nyour memorial from C----, because H---- wished to add various items here\nand there. I do beg of you to dwell chiefly on the great importance to me\nof adequate opportunities to exercise my art; by so doing you will write\nwhat is most in accordance with my head and my heart. The preamble must set\nforth what I am to have in Westphalia--600 ducats in gold, 150 ducats for\ntravelling expenses; all I have to do in return for this sum being to\ndirect the King's [Jerome's] concerts, which are short and few in number. I\nam not even bound to direct any opera I may write. So, thus freed from all\ncare, I shall be able to devote myself entirely to the most important\nobject of my art--to write great works. An orchestra is also to be placed\nat my disposition.\n\nN.B. As member of a theatrical association, the title need not be insisted\non, as it can produce nothing but annoyance. With regard to the _Imperial\nservice_, I think that point requires delicate handling, and not less so\nthe solicitation for the title of _Imperial Kapellmeister_. It must,\nhowever, be made quite clear that I am to receive a sufficient salary from\nthe Court to enable me to renounce the annuity which I at present receive\nfrom the gentlemen in question [the Archduke Rudolph, Prince Kinsky, and\nPrince Lobkowitz], which I think will be most suitably expressed by my\nstating that it is my hope, and has ever been my most ardent wish, to enter\nthe Imperial service, when I shall be ready to give up as much of the above\nsalary as the sum I am to receive from His Imperial Majesty amounts to.\n(N.B. We must have it to-morrow at twelve o'clock, as we go to Kinsky then.\nI hope to see you to-day.)\n\n[Footnote 1: This note, now first published, refers to the call Beethoven\nhad received, mentioned in the previous No. The sketch of the memorial that\nfollows is not, however, in Beethoven's writing, and perhaps not even\ncomposed by him [see also No. 46]. It is well known that the Archduke\nRudolph, Prince Kinsky, and Prince Lobkowitz had secured to the _maestro_ a\nsalary of 4000 gulden.]\n\n\n49.\n\nThe aim and endeavor of every true artist must be to acquire a position in\nwhich he can occupy himself exclusively with the accomplishment of great\nworks, undisturbed by other avocations or by considerations of economy. A\ncomposer, therefore, can have no more ardent wish than to devote himself\nwholly to the creation of works of importance, to be produced before the\npublic. He must also keep in view the prospect of old age, in order to make\na sufficient provision for that period.\n\nThe King of Westphalia has offered Beethoven a salary of 600 gold ducats\nfor life, and 150 ducats for travelling expenses, in return for which his\nsole obligations are, occasionally to play before His Majesty, and to\nconduct his chamber concerts, which are both few and short. This proposal\nis of a most beneficial nature both to art and the artist.\n\nBeethoven, however, much prefers a residence in this capital, feeling so\nmuch gratitude for the many proofs of kindness he has received in it, and\nso much patriotism for his adopted father-land, that he will never cease to\nconsider himself an Austrian artist, nor take up his abode elsewhere, if\nanything approaching to the same advantages are conferred on him here.\n\nAs many persons of high, indeed of the very highest rank, have requested\nhim to name the conditions on which he would be disposed to remain here, in\ncompliance with their wish he states as follows:--\n\n1. Beethoven must receive from some influential nobleman security for a\npermanent salary for life: various persons of consideration might\ncontribute to make up the amount of this salary, which, at the present\nincreased price of all commodities, must not consist of less than 4000\nflorins _per annum_. Beethoven's wish is that the donors of this sum should\nbe considered as cooperating in the production of his future great works,\nby thus enabling him to devote himself entirely to these labors, and by\nrelieving him from all other occupations.\n\n2. Beethoven must always retain the privilege of travelling in the\ninterests of art, for in this way alone can he make himself known, and\nacquire some fortune.\n\n3. His most ardent desire and eager wish is to be received into the\nImperial service, when such an appointment would enable him partly or\nwholly to renounce the proposed salary. In the mean time the title of\n_Imperial Kapellmeister_ would be very gratifying to him; and if this wish\ncould be realized, the value of his abode here would be much enhanced in\nhis eyes.\n\nIf his desire be fulfilled, and a salary granted by His Majesty to\nBeethoven, he will renounce so much of the said 4000 florins as the\nImperial salary shall amount to; or if this appointment be 4000 florins, he\nwill give up the whole of the former sum.\n\n4. As Beethoven wishes from time to time to produce before the public at\nlarge his new great works, he desires an assurance from the present\ndirectors of the theatre on their part, and that of their successors, that\nthey will authorize him to give a concert for his own benefit every year on\nPalm Sunday, in the Theatre \"an der Wien.\" In return for which Beethoven\nagrees to arrange and direct an annual concert for the benefit of the poor,\nor, if this cannot be managed, at all events to furnish a new work of his\nown for such a concert.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "COUNT FRANZ VON OPPERSDORF.[1]",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 50 — TO ZMESKALL.",
    "body": "December, 1808.\n\nMY EXCELLENT FRIEND,--\n\nAll would go well now if we had only a curtain, without it the _Aria_ [\"Ah!\nPerfido\"] _will be a failure_.[1] I only heard this to-day from S.\n[Seyfried], and it vexes me much: a curtain of any kind will do, even a\nbed-curtain, or merely a _kind of gauze screen_, which could be instantly\nremoved. There must be something; for the Aria is in the _dramatic style_,\nand better adapted for the stage than for effect in a concert-room.\n_Without a curtain, or something of the sort, the Aria will be devoid of\nall meaning, and ruined! ruined! ruined!! Devil take it all!_ The Court\nwill probably be present. Baron Schweitzer [Chamberlain of the Archduke\nAnton] requested me earnestly to make the application myself. Archduke Carl\ngranted me an audience and promised to come. The Empress _neither promised\nnor refused_.\n\nA hanging curtain!!!! or the Aria and I will both be hanged to-morrow.\nFarewell! I embrace you as cordially on this new year as in the old one.\n_With or without a curtain!_ Your\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: Reichardt, in his _Vertraute Briefe_ relates among other\nthings about the concert given by Beethoven in the Royal Theatre \"an der\nWien,\" Oct. 22, 1808, as follows:--\"Poor Beethoven, who derived from this\nconcert the first and only net profits which accrued to him during the\nwhole year, met with great opposition and very slender support in arranging\nand carrying it out. First came the _Pastoral Symphony; or, Reminiscences\nof Rural Life_; then followed, as the sixth piece, a long Italian _scena_,\nsung by Demoiselle Killitzky, a lovely Bohemian with a lovely voice.\" The\nabove note [to Zmeskall?] certainly refers to this concert.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "ZMESKALL",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 64 — TO WEGELER.",
    "body": "Vienna, May 2, 1810.\n\nMY DEAR OLD FRIEND,--\n\nThese lines may very possibly cause you some surprise, and yet, though you\nhave no written proof of it, I always retain the most lively remembrance of\nyou. Among my MSS. is one that has long been destined for you, and which\nyou shall certainly receive this summer. For the last two years my secluded\nand quiet life has been at an end, and I have been forcibly drawn into the\nvortex of the world; though as yet I have attained no good result from\nthis,--nay, perhaps rather the reverse,--but who has not been affected by\nthe storms around us? Still I should not only be happy, but the happiest of\nmen, if a demon had not taken up his settled abode in my ears. Had I not\nsomewhere read that man must not voluntarily put an end to his life while\nhe can still perform even one good deed, I should long since have been no\nmore, and by my own hand too! Ah! how fair is life; but for me it is\nforever poisoned!\n\nYou will not refuse me one friendly service, which is to procure me my\nbaptismal certificate. As Steffen Breuning has an account with you, he can\npay any expenses you may incur, and I will repay him here. If you think it\nworth while to make the inquiry in person, and choose to make a journey\nfrom Coblenz to Bonn, you have only to charge it all to me. I must,\nhowever, warn you that I had an _elder brother_ whose name was also Ludwig,\nwith the second name of _Maria_, who died. In order to know my precise age,\nthe date of my birth must be first ascertained, this circumstance having\nalready led others into error, and caused me to be thought older than I\nreally am. Unluckily, I lived for some time without myself knowing my age\n[see Nos. 26 and 51]. I had a book containing all family incidents, but it\nhas been lost, Heaven knows how! So pardon my urgently requesting you to\ntry to discover _Ludwig Maria's_ birth, as well as that of the present\nLudwig. The sooner you can send me the certificate of baptism the more\nobliged shall I be.[1] I am told that you sing one of my songs in your\nFreemason Lodge, probably the one in E major, which I have not myself got;\nsend it to me, and I promise to compensate you threefold and fourfold.[2]\nThink of me with kindness, little as I apparently deserve it. Embrace your\ndear wife and children, and all whom you love, in the name of your friend,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: Wegeler says:--\"I discovered the solution of the enigma (why\nthe baptismal certificate was so eagerly sought) from a letter written to\nme three months afterwards by my brother-in-law, Stephan von Breuning, in\nwhich he said: 'Beethoven tells me at least once a week that he means to\nwrite to you; but I believe his _intended marriage is broken off_; he\ntherefore feels no ardent inclination to thank you for having procured his\nbaptismal certificate.'\"]\n\n[Footnote 2: Beethoven was mistaken; Wegeler had only supplied other music\nto the words of Matthisson's _Opfer Lied_.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "WEGELER",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 66 — TO BETTINA BRENTANO.[1]",
    "body": "Vienna, August 11, 1810.\n\nMY DEAREST FRIEND,--\n\nNever was there a lovelier spring than this year; I say so, and feel it\ntoo, because it was then I first knew you. You have yourself seen that in\nsociety I am like a fish on the sand, which writhes and writhes, but cannot\nget away till some benevolent Galatea casts it back into the mighty ocean.\nI was indeed fairly stranded, dearest friend, when surprised by you at a\nmoment in which moroseness had entirely mastered me; but how quickly it\nvanished at your aspect! I was at once conscious that you came from another\nsphere than this absurd world, where, with the best inclinations, I cannot\nopen my ears. I am a wretched creature, and yet I complain of others!! You\nwill forgive this from the goodness of heart that beams in your eyes, and\nthe good sense manifested by your ears; at least they understand how to\nflatter, by the mode in which they listen. My ears are, alas! a\npartition-wall, through which I can with difficulty hold any intercourse\nwith my fellow-creatures. Otherwise, perhaps, I might have felt more\nassured with you; but I was only conscious of the full, intelligent glance\nfrom your eyes, which affected me so deeply that never can I forget it. My\ndear friend! dearest girl!--Art! who comprehends it? with whom can I\ndiscuss this mighty goddess? How precious to me were the few days when we\ntalked together, or, I should rather say, corresponded! I have carefully\npreserved the little notes with your clever, charming, most charming\nanswers; so I have to thank my defective hearing for the greater part of\nour fugitive intercourse being written down. Since you left this I have had\nsome unhappy hours,--hours of the deepest gloom, when I could do nothing.\nI wandered for three hours in the Schönbrunn Allée after you left us, but\nno _angel_ met me there to take possession of me as you did. Pray forgive,\nmy dear friend, this deviation from the original key, but I must have such\nintervals as a relief to my heart. You have no doubt written to Goethe\nabout me? I would gladly bury my head in a sack, so that I might neither\nsee nor hear what goes on in the world, because I shall meet you there no\nmore; but I shall get a letter from you? Hope sustains me, as it does half\nthe world; through life she has been my close companion, or what would have\nbecome of me? I send you \"Kennst Du das Land,\" written with my own hand, as\na remembrance of the hour when I first knew you; I send you also another\nthat I composed since I bade you farewell, my dearest, fairest sweetheart!\n\n  Herz, mein Herz, was soll das geben,\n  Was bedränget dich so sehr;\n  Welch ein neues fremdes Leben,\n  Ich erkenne dich nicht mehr.\n\nNow answer me, my dearest friend, and say what is to become of me since my\nheart has turned such a rebel. Write to your most faithful friend,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: The celebrated letters to Bettina are given here exactly as\npublished in her book, _Ilius Pamphilius und die Ambrosia_ (Berlin, Arnim,\n1857) in two volumes. I never myself had any doubts of their being genuine\n(with the exception of perhaps some words in the middle of the third\nletter), nor can any one now distrust them, especially after the\npublication of _Beethoven's Letters_. But for the sake of those for whom\nthe weight of innate conviction is not sufficient proof, I may here mention\nthat in December, 1864, Professor Moritz Carrière, in Munich, when\nconversing with me about _Beethoven's Letters_, expressly assured me that\nthese three letters were genuine, and that he had seen them in Berlin at\nBettina v. Arnim's in 1839, and read them most attentively and with the\ndeepest interest. From their important contents, he urged their immediate\npublication; and when this shortly after ensued, no change whatever struck\nhim as having been made in the original text; on the contrary, he still\nperfectly remembered that the much-disputed phraseology (and especially the\nincident with Goethe) was precisely the same as in the originals. This\ntestimony seems to me the more weighty, as M. Carrière must not in such\nmatters be looked on as a novice, but as a competent judge, who has\ncarefully studied all that concerns our literary heroes, and who would not\npermit anything to be falsely imputed to Beethoven any more than to Goethe.\nBeethoven's biography is, however, the proper place to discuss more closely\nsuch things, especially his character and his conduct in this particular\ncase. At present we only refer in general terms to the first chapter of\n_Beethoven's Jugend_, which gives all the facts connected with these\nletters to Bettina and the following ones--a characteristic likeness of\nBeethoven thus impressed itself on the mind of the biographer, and was\nreproduced in a few bold outlines in his _Biography_. These letters could\nnot, however, possibly be given _in extenso_ in a general introduction to a\ncomprehensive biography.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "BETTINA BRENTANO.[1]",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 67 — TO BETTINA BRENTANO.",
    "body": "Vienna, Feb. 10, 1811.\n\nDEAR AND BELOVED FRIEND,--\n\nI have now received two letters from you, while those to Tonie show that\nyou still remember me, and even too kindly. I carried your letter about\nwith me the whole summer, and it often made me feel very happy; though I do\nnot frequently write to you, and you never see me, still I write you\nletters by thousands in my thoughts. I can easily imagine what you feel at\nBerlin in witnessing all the noxious frivolity of the world's rabble,[1]\neven had you not written it to me yourself. Such prating about art, and yet\nno results!!! The best description of this is to be found in Schiller's\npoem \"Die Flüsse,\" where the river Spree is supposed to speak. You are\ngoing to be married, my dear friend, or are already so, and I have had no\nchance of seeing you even once previously. May all the felicity that\nmarriage ever bestowed on husband and wife attend you both! What can I say\nto you of myself? I can only exclaim with Johanna, \"Compassionate my fate!\"\nIf I am spared for some years to come, I will thank the Omniscient, the\nOmnipotent, for the boon, as I do for all other weal and woe. If you\nmention me when you write to Goethe, strive to find words expressive of my\ndeep reverence and admiration. I am about to write to him myself with\nregard to \"Egmont,\" for which I have written some music solely from my love\nfor his poetry, which always delights me. Who can be sufficiently grateful\nto a great poet,--the most precious jewel of a nation! Now no more, my dear\nsweet friend! I only came home this morning at four o'clock from an orgy,\nwhere I laughed heartily, but to-day I feel as if I could weep as sadly;\nturbulent pleasures always violently recoil on my spirits. As for Clemens\n[Brentano, her brother], pray thank him for his complaisance; with regard\nto the Cantata, the subject is not important enough for us here--it is very\ndifferent in Berlin; and as for my affection, the sister engrosses so large\na share, that little remains for the brother. Will he be content with this?\n\nNow farewell, my dear, dear friend; I imprint a sorrowful kiss on your\nforehead, thus impressing my thoughts on it as with a seal. Write soon,\nvery soon, to your brother,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: An expression which, as well as many others, he no doubt\nborrowed from Bettina, and introduced to please her.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "BETTINA BRENTANO",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 87 — TO THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH.",
    "body": "1812.\n\nYOUR IMPERIAL HIGHNESS,--\n\nI was unable till to-day, when I leave my bed for the first time, to answer\nyour gracious letter. It will be impossible for me to wait on you\nto-morrow, but perhaps the day after. I have suffered much during the last\nfew days, and I may say two-fold from not being in a condition to devote a\ngreat part of my time to you, according to my heartfelt wish. I hope now,\nhowever, to have cleared off all scores for spring and summer (I mean as to\nhealth).\n\nI am your Imperial Highness's most obedient servant,\n\nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 93 — TO BETTINA VON ARNIM.",
    "body": "Töplitz, August 15, 1812.\n\nMY MOST DEAR KIND FRIEND,--\n\nKings and princes can indeed create professors and privy-councillors, and\nconfer titles and decorations, but they cannot make great men,--spirits\nthat soar above the base turmoil of this world. There their powers fail,\nand this it is that forces them to respect us.[1] When two persons like\nGoethe and myself meet, these grandees cannot fail to perceive what such as\nwe consider great. Yesterday, on our way home, we met the whole Imperial\nfamily; we saw them coming some way off, when Goethe withdrew his arm from\nmine, in order to stand aside; and, say what I would, I could not prevail\non him to make another step in advance. I pressed down my hat more firmly\non my head, buttoned up my great-coat, and, crossing my arms behind me, I\nmade my way through the thickest portion of the crowd. Princes and\ncourtiers formed a lane for me; Archduke Rudolph took off his hat, and the\nEmpress bowed to me first. These great ones of the earth _know me_. To my\ninfinite amusement, I saw the procession defile past Goethe, who stood\naside with his hat off, bowing profoundly. I afterwards took him sharply to\ntask for this; I gave him no quarter, and upbraided him with all his sins,\nespecially towards you, my dear friend, as we had just been speaking of\nyou. Heavens! if I could have lived with you as _he_ did, believe me I\nshould have produced far greater things. A musician is also a poet, he too\ncan feel himself transported into a brighter world by a pair of fine eyes,\nwhere loftier spirits sport with him and impose heavy tasks on him. What\nthoughts rushed into my mind when I first saw you in the Observatory during\na refreshing May shower, so fertilizing to me also![2] The most beautiful\nthemes stole from your eyes into my heart, which shall yet enchant the\nworld when Beethoven no longer _directs_. If God vouchsafes to grant me a\nfew more years of life, I must then see you once more, my dear, most dear\nfriend, for the voice within, to which I always listen, demands this.\nSpirits may love one another, and I shall ever woo yours. Your approval is\ndearer to me than all else in the world. I told Goethe my sentiments as to\nthe influence praise has over men like us, and that we desire our equals to\nlisten to us with their understanding. Emotion suits women only; (forgive\nme!) music ought to strike fire from the soul of a man. Ah! my dear girl,\nhow long have our feelings been identical on all points!!! The sole real\ngood is some bright kindly spirit to sympathize with us, whom we thoroughly\ncomprehend, and from whom we need not hide our thoughts. _He who wishes to\nappear something, must in reality be something._ The world must acknowledge\nus, it is not always unjust; but for this I care not, having a higher\npurpose in view. I hope to get a letter from you in Vienna; write to me\nsoon and fully, for a week hence I shall be there. The Court leaves this\nto-morrow, and to-day they have another performance. The Empress has\nstudied her part thoroughly. The Emperor and the Duke wished me to play\nsome of my own music, but I refused, for they are both infatuated with\n_Chinese porcelain_. A little indulgence is required, for reason seems to\nhave lost its empire; but I do not choose to minister to such perverse\nfolly--I will not be a party to such absurd doings to please those princes\nwho are constantly guilty of eccentricities of this sort. Adieu! adieu!\ndear one; your letter lay all night next my heart, and cheered me.\nMusicians permit themselves great license. _Heavens! how I love you!_ Your\nmost faithful friend and deaf brother,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: Fräulein Giannatasio del Rio, in the journal she sent to the\n_Grenz Boten_ in 1857, states that Beethoven once declared, \"It is very\npleasant to associate with the great of the earth, but one must possess\nsome quality which inspires them with respect.\"]\n\n[Footnote 2: According to Bettina (see _Goethe's Correspondence with a\nChild_, II. 193), their first acquaintance was made in Beethoven's\napartments.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "BETTINA VON ARNIM",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 111 — TO THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH.",
    "body": "Vienna, July 24, 1813.\n\nFrom day to day I have been expecting to return to Baden; in the mean time,\nthe discords that detain me here may possibly be resolved by the end of the\nensuing week. To me a residence in a town during the summer is misery, and\nwhen I also remember that I am thus prevented waiting on Y.R.H., it is\nstill more vexatious and annoying. It is, in fact, the Lobkowitz and Kinsky\naffairs that keep me here. Instead of pondering over a number of bars, I am\nobliged constantly to reflect on the number of peregrinations I am forced\nto make; but for this, I could scarcely endure to the end. Y.R.H. has no\ndoubt heard of Lobkowitz's misfortunes,[1] which are much to be regretted;\nbut after all, to be rich is no such great happiness! It is said that Count\nFries alone paid 1900 gold ducats to Duport, for which he had the security\nof the ancient Lobkowitz house. The details are beyond all belief. I hear\nthat Count Rasumowsky[2] intends to go to Baden, and to take his Quartet\nwith him, which is really very pretty, and I have no doubt that Y.R.H. will\nbe much pleased with it. I know no more charming enjoyment in the country\nthan quartet music. I beg Y.R.H. will accept my heartfelt wishes for your\nhealth, and also compassionate me for being obliged to pass my time here\nunder such disagreeable circumstances. But I will strive to compensate\ntwofold in Baden for what you have lost.\n\n[K.]\n\n[Footnote 1: Prince Lobkowitz's \"misfortunes\" probably refer to the great\npecuniary difficulties which befell this music and pomp loving Prince\nseveral years before his death. Beethoven seems to have made various\nattempts to induce the Prince to continue the payment of his share of the\nsalary agreed on, though these efforts were long fruitless. The subject,\nhowever, appears to have been again renewed in 1816, for on the 8th of\nMarch in this year Beethoven writes to Ries to say that his salary consists\nof 3400 florins E.S., and this sum he received till his death.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Those who played in Count Rasumowsky's Quartets, to whom\nBeethoven dedicated various compositions, were the _virtuosi_ Schuppanzigh\n(1st), Sina (2d violin), Linke (violoncello), Weiss (violin).]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "THE ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 124 — TO COUNT MORITZ LICHNOWSKY.[1]",
    "body": "My dear, victorious, and yet sometimes nonplussed (?) Count! I hope that\nyou rested well, most precious and charming of all Counts! Oh! most beloved\nand unparalleled Count! most fascinating and prodigious Count!\n\n[Music: Treble clef, E-flat Major, 2/2 time.\nGraf Graf Graf Graf (in 3-part harmony)\nGraf (in 3-part counterpoint)\nGraf Graf Graf, liebster Graf, liebstes Schaf,\nbester Graf, bestes Schaf! Schaf! Schaf!]\n\n(_To be repeated at pleasure_.)\n\nAt what hour shall we call on Walter to-day? My going or not depends\nentirely on you. Your\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: In Schindler's _Beethoven's Nachlass_ there is also an\nautograph Canon of Beethoven's in F major, 6/8, on Count Lichnowsky, on the\nwords, _Bester Herr Graf, Sie sind ein Schaf_, written (according to\nSchindler) Feb. 20th, 1823, in the coffee-house \"Die Goldne Birne,\" in the\nLandstrasse, where Beethoven usually went every evening, though he\ngenerally slipped in by the backdoor.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "COUNT MORITZ LICHNOWSKY.[1]",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 128 — TO HERR J. KAUKA, DOCTOR OF LAWS IN PRAGUE, IN THE KINGDOM OF BOHEMIA.",
    "body": "The Summer of 1814.\n\nA thousand thanks, my esteemed Kauka. At last I meet with a _legal\nrepresentative_ and a _man_, who can both write and think without using\nunmeaning formulas. You can scarcely imagine how I long for the end of this\naffair, as it not only interferes with my domestic expenditure, but is\ninjurious to me in various ways. You know yourself that a sensitive spirit\nought not to be fettered by miserable anxieties, and much that might render\nmy life happy is thus abstracted from it. Even my inclination and the duty\nI assigned myself, to serve suffering humanity by means of my art, I have\nbeen obliged to limit, and must continue to do so.[1]\n\nI write nothing about our monarchs and monarchies, for the newspapers give\nyou every information on these subjects.[2] The intellectual realm is the\nmost precious in my eyes, and far above all temporal and spiritual\nmonarchies. Write to me, however, what you wish _for yourself_ from my poor\nmusical capabilities, that I may, in so far as it lies in my power, supply\nsomething for your own musical sense and feeling. Do you not require all\nthe papers connected with the Kinsky case? If so I will send them to you,\nas they contain most important testimony, which, indeed, I believe you read\nwhen with me. Think of me and do not forget that you represent a\ndisinterested artist in opposition to a niggardly family. How gladly do men\nwithhold from the poor artist in one respect _what they pay him in\nanother_, and there is no longer a Zeus with whom an artist can invite\nhimself to feast on ambrosia. Strive, my dear friend, to accelerate the\ntardy steps of justice. Whenever I feel myself elevated high, and in happy\nmoments revel in my artistic sphere, circumstances drag me down again, and\nnone more than these two lawsuits. You too have your disagreeable moments,\nthough with the views and capabilities I know you to possess, especially in\nyour profession, I could scarcely have believed this; still I must recall\nyour attention to myself. I have drunk to the dregs a cup of bitter sorrow,\nand already earned martyrdom in art through my beloved artistic disciples\nand colleagues. I beg you will think of me every day, and imagine it to be\nan _entire world_, for it is really asking rather too much of you to think\nof so humble an _individual_ as myself.\n\nI am, with the highest esteem and friendship,\n\nYour obedient\n\nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: He supported a consumptive brother and his wife and child.]\n\n[Footnote 2: At the Vienna Congress Beethoven was received with much\ndistinction by the potentates present.]\n\n\n129.\n\nADDRESS AND APPEAL TO LONDON ARTISTS BY L. VAN BEETHOVEN.\n\nVienna, July 25, 1814.\n\nHerr Maelzel, now in London, on his way thither performed my \"Battle\nSymphony\" and \"Wellington's Battle of Vittoria\" in Munich, and no doubt he\nintends to produce them at London concerts, as he wished to do in\nFrankfort. This induces me to declare that I never in any way made over or\ntransferred the said works to Herr Maelzel; that no one possesses a copy of\nthem, and that the only one verified by me I sent to his Royal Highness the\nPrince Regent of England. The performance of these works, therefore, by\nHerr Maelzel is either an imposition on the public, as the above\ndeclaration proves that he does not possess them, or if he does, he has\nbeen guilty of a breach of faith towards me, inasmuch as he must have got\nthem in a surreptitious manner.\n\nBut even in the latter case the public will still be deluded, for the works\nthat Herr Maelzel performs under the titles of \"Wellington's Battle of\nVittoria\" and \"Battle Symphony\" are beyond all doubt spurious and\nmutilated, as he never had any portion of either of these works of mine,\nexcept some of the parts for a few days.\n\nThis suspicion becomes a certainty from the testimony of various artists\nhere, whose names I am authorized to give if necessary. These gentlemen\nstate that Herr Maelzel, before he left Vienna, declared that he was in\npossession of these works, and showed various portions, which, however, as\nI have already proved, must be counterfeit. The question whether Herr\nMaelzel be capable of doing me such an injury is best solved by the\nfollowing fact,--In the public papers he named himself as sole giver of the\nconcert on behalf of our wounded soldiers, whereas my works alone were\nperformed there, and yet he made no allusion whatsoever to me.\n\nI therefore appeal to the London musicians not to permit such a grievous\nwrong to be done to their fellow-artist by Herr Maelzel's performance of\nthe \"Battle of Vittoria\" and the \"Battle Symphony,\" and also to prevent the\nLondon public being so shamefully imposed upon.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "HERR J. KAUKA, DOCTOR OF LAWS IN PRAGUE, IN THE KINGDOM OF BOHEMIA",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 131 — TO COUNT MORITZ LICHNOWSKY.",
    "body": "Baden, Sept. 21, 1841.[1]\n\nMOST ESTEEMED COUNT AND FRIEND,--\n\nI unluckily only got your letter yesterday. A thousand thanks for your\nremembrance of me. Pray express my gratitude also to your charming Princess\nChristiane [wife of Prince Carl Lichnowsky]. I had a delightful walk\nyesterday with a friend in the Brühl, and in the course of our friendly\nchat you were particularly mentioned, and lo! and behold! on my return I\nfound your kind letter. I see you are resolved to continue to load me with\nbenefits.\n\nAs I am unwilling you should suppose that a step I have already taken is\nprompted by your recent favors, or by any motive of the sort, I must tell\nyou that a sonata of mine [Op. 90] is about to appear, _dedicated to you_.\nI wished to give you a surprise, as this dedication has been long designed\nfor you, but your letter of yesterday induces me to name the fact. I\nrequired no new motive thus publicly to testify my sense of your friendship\nand kindness. But as for anything approaching to a gift in return, you\nwould only distress me, by thus totally misinterpreting my intentions, and\nI should at once decidedly refuse such a thing.\n\nI beg to kiss the hand of the Princess for her kind message and all her\ngoodness to me. _Never have I forgotten what I owe to you all_, though an\nunfortunate combination of circumstances prevented my testifying this as I\ncould have wished.\n\nFrom what you tell me about Lord Castlereagh, I think the matter in the\nbest possible train. If I were to give an opinion on the subject, I should\nsay that Lord Castlereagh ought to hear the work given here before writing\nto Wellington. I shall soon be in Vienna, when we can consult together\nabout a grand concert. Nothing is to be effected at Court; I made the\napplication, but--but--\n\n[Music: Treble clef, C major, 4/4 time, Adagio.\nal-lein al-lein al-lein]\n\n_Silentium!!!_\n\nFarewell, my esteemed friend; pray continue to esteem me worthy of your\nfriendship. Yours,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\nA thousand compliments to the illustrious Princess.\n\n[Footnote 1: The date reversed, as written by Beethoven, is here given.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "COUNT MORITZ LICHNOWSKY",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 141 — TO HERR KAUKA.",
    "body": "1815.\n\nMY DEAR AND ESTEEMED K.,--\n\nWhat can I think, or say, or feel? As for W. [Wolf], it seems to me that he\nnot only showed _his weak points_, but gave himself no trouble to conceal\nthem. It is impossible that he can have drawn up his statement in\naccordance with all the actual evidence he had. The order on the treasury\nabout the rate of exchange was given by Kinsky previous to his consent to\npay me my salary in _Einlösung Schein_, as the documents prove; indeed it\nis only necessary to examine the date to show this, so the first\ninstruction is of importance. The _species facti_ prove that I was more\nthan six months absent from Vienna. As I was not anxious to get the money,\nI allowed the affair to stand over; so the Prince thus forgot to recall his\nformer order to the treasury, but that he neither forgot his promise to me,\nnor to Varnhagen [an officer] in my behalf, is evident by the testimony of\nHerr von Oliva, to whom shortly before his departure from hence--and indeed\ninto another world--he repeated his promise, making an appointment to see\nhim when he should return to Vienna, in order to arrange the matter with\nthe treasury, which of course was prevented by his untimely death.\n\nThe testimony of the officer Varnhagen is accompanied by a document (he\nbeing at present with the Russian army), in which he states that he is\nprepared to _take his oath_ on the affair. The evidence of Herr Oliva is\nalso to the effect that he is willing to confirm his evidence by oath\nbefore the Court. As I have sent away the testimony of Col. Count Bentheim,\nI am not sure of its tenor, but I believe the Count also says that he is\nprepared at any time to make an affidavit on the matter in Court, and I am\nmyself _ready to swear before the Court_ that Prince Kinsky said to me in\nPrague, \"he thought it only fair to me that my salary should be paid in\n_Einlösung Schein_.\" These were his own words.\n\nHe gave me himself sixty gold ducats in Prague, on account (good for about\n600 florins), as, owing to my state of health, I could remain no longer,\nand set off for Töplitz. The Prince's word was _sacred_ in my eyes, never\nhaving heard anything of him to induce me either to bring two witnesses\nwith me or to ask him for any written pledge. I see from all this that Dr.\nWolf has miserably mismanaged the business, and has not made you\nsufficiently acquainted with the papers.\n\nNow as to the step I have just taken. The Archduke Rudolph asked me some\ntime since whether the Kinsky affair was yet terminated, having probably\nheard something of it. I told him that it looked very bad, as I knew\nnothing, absolutely nothing, of the matter. He offered to write himself,\nbut desired me to add a memorandum, and also to make him acquainted with\nall the papers connected with the Kinsky case. After having informed\nhimself on the affair, he wrote to the _Oberstburggraf_, and enclosed my\nletter to him.\n\nThe _Oberstburggraf_ answered both the Duke and myself immediately. In the\nletter to me he said \"that I was to present a petition to the Provincial\nCourt of Justice in Prague, along with all the proofs, whence it would be\nforwarded to him, and that he would do his utmost to further my cause.\" He\nalso wrote in the most polite terms to the Archduke; indeed, he expressly\nsaid \"that he was thoroughly cognizant of the late Prince Kinsky's\nintentions with regard to me and this affair, and that I might present a\npetition,\" &c. The Archduke instantly sent for me, and desired me to\nprepare the document and to show it to him; he also thought that I ought to\nsolicit payment in _Einlösung Schein_, as there was ample proof, if not in\nstrictly legal form, of the intentions of the Prince, and no one could\ndoubt that if he had survived he would have adhered to his promise. If he\n[the Archduke] were this day the heir, _he would demand no other proofs\nthan those already furnished_. I sent this paper to Baron Pasqualati, who\nis kindly to present it himself to the Court. Not till after the affair had\ngone so far did Dr. Adlersburg receive a letter from Dr. Wolf, in which he\nmentioned that he had made a claim for 1500 florins. As we have come so far\nas 1500 florins with the _Oberstburggraf_, we may possibly get on to 1800\nflorins. I do not esteem this any _favor_, for the late Prince was one of\nthose who urged me most to refuse a salary of 600 gold ducats per annum,\noffered to me from Westphalia; and he said at the time \"that he was\nresolved I should have no chance of eating hams in Westphalia.\" Another\nsummons to Naples somewhat later I equally declined, and I am entitled to\ndemand a fair compensation for the loss I incurred. If the salary were to\nbe paid in bank-notes, what should I get? Not 400 florins in\n_Conventionsgeld_!!! in lieu of such a salary as 600 ducats! There are\nample proofs for those who wish to act justly; and what does the _Einlösung\nSchein_ now amount to??!!! It is even at this moment no equivalent for what\nI refused. This affair was pompously announced in all the newspapers while\nI was nearly reduced to beggary. The intentions of the Prince are evident,\nand in my opinion the family are bound to act in accordance with them\nunless they wish to be disgraced. Besides, the revenues have rather\nincreased than diminished by the death of the Prince; so there is no\nsufficient ground for curtailing my salary.\n\nI received your friendly letter yesterday, but am too weary at this moment\nto write all that I feel towards you. I can only commend my case to your\nsagacity. It appears that the _Oberstburggraf_ is the chief person; so what\nhe wrote to the Archduke must be kept a profound secret, for it might not\nbe advisable that any one should know of it but you and Pasqualati. You\nhave sufficient cause on looking through the papers to show how improperly\nDr. Wolf has conducted the affair, and that another course of action is\nnecessary. I rely on your friendship to act as you think best for my\ninterests.\n\nRest assured of my warmest thanks, and pray excuse my writing more to-day,\nfor a thing of this kind is very fatiguing,--more so than the greatest\nmusical undertaking. My heart has found something for you to which yours\nwill respond, and this you shall soon receive.\n\nDo not forget me, poor tormented creature that I am! and _act for me_ and\n_effect for me_ all that is possible.\n\nWith high esteem, your true friend,\n\nBEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "HERR KAUKA",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 145 — TO HERR KAUKA.",
    "body": "Vienna, Feb. 24, 1815.\n\nMY MUCH ESTEEMED K.,--\n\nI have repeatedly thanked you through Baron Pasqualati for your friendly\nexertions on my behalf, and I now beg to express one thousand thanks\nmyself. The intervention of the Archduke could not be very palatable to\nyou, and perhaps has prejudiced you against me. You had already done all\nthat was possible when the Archduke interfered. If this had been the case\nsooner, and we had not employed that one-sided, or many-sided, or\nweak-sided Dr. Wolf, then, according to the assurances of the\n_Oberstburggraf_ himself, the affair might have had a still more favorable\nresult. I shall therefore ever and always be grateful to you for your\nservices. The Court now deduct the sixty ducats I mentioned of my own\naccord, and to which the late Prince never alluded either to his treasurer\nor any one else. Where truth could injure me it has been accepted, so why\nreject it when it could have benefited me? How unfair! Baron Pasqualati\nrequires information from you on various points.\n\nI am again very tired to-day, having been obliged to discuss many things\nwith poor P.; such matters exhaust me more than the greatest efforts in\ncomposition. It is a new field, the soil of which I ought not to be\nrequired to till. This painful business has cost me many tears and much\nsorrow. The time draws near when Princess Kinsky must be written to. Now I\nmust conclude. How rejoiced shall I be when I can write you the pure\neffusions of my heart once more; and this I mean to do as soon as I am\nextricated from all these troubles. Pray accept again my heartfelt thanks\nfor all that you have done for me, and continue your regard for\n\nYour attached friend,\n\nBEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "HERR KAUKA",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 162 — TO RIES.",
    "body": "Vienna, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 1815.\n\nMY DEAR RIES,--\n\nI hasten to apprise you that I have to-day forwarded by post the pianoforte\narrangement of the Symphony in A, to the care of Messrs Coutts. As the\nCourt is absent, few, indeed almost no couriers go from here; moreover, the\npost is the safest way. The Symphony ought to be brought out about March;\nthe precise day I will fix myself. So much time has already been lost on\nthis occasion that I could not give an earlier notice of the period of\npublication. The Trio in [??] and the violin Sonata may be allowed more\ntime, and both will be in London a few weeks hence. I earnestly entreat\nyou, dear Ries, to take charge of these matters, and also to see that I get\nthe money; I require it, and it costs me a good deal before all is sent\noff.\n\nI have lost 600 florins of my yearly salary; at the time of the\n_bank-notes_ there was no loss, but then came the _Einlösungsscheine_\n[reduced paper-money], which deprives me of these 600 florins, after\nentailing on me several years of annoyance, and now the total loss of my\nsalary. We are at present arrived at a point when the _Einlösungsscheine_\nare even lower than the _bank-notes_ ever were. I pay 1000 florins for\nhouse-rent: you may thus conceive all the misery caused by paper-money.\n\nMy poor unhappy brother [Carl v. Beethoven, a cashier in Vienna] is just\ndead [Nov. 15th, 1815]; he had a bad wife. For some years past he has been\nsuffering from consumption, and from my wish to make his life less irksome\nI may compute what I gave him at 10,000 florins (_Wiener Währung_). This\nindeed does not seem much to an Englishman, but it is a great deal for a\npoor German, or rather Austrian. The unhappy man was latterly much changed,\nand I must say I lament him from my heart, though I rejoice to think I left\nnothing undone that could contribute to his comfort.\n\nTell Mr. Birchall that he is to repay the postage of my letters to you and\nMr. Salomon, and also yours to me; he may deduct this from the sum he owes\nme; I am anxious that those who work for me should lose as little as\npossible by it. \"Wellington's Victory at Vittoria\"[1] must have arrived\nlong ago through the Messrs. Coutts. Mr. Birchall need not send payment\ntill he is in possession of all the works; only do not delay letting me\nknow when the day is fixed for the publication of the pianoforte\narrangement. For to-day, I only further earnestly recommend my affairs to\nyour care; I shall be equally at your service at any time. Farewell, dear\nRies.\n\nYour friend,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: \"This is also to be the title of the pianoforte arrangement.\"\n(Note by Beethoven.)]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "RIES",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 165 — TO RIES",
    "body": "Vienna, Jan. 20, 1816.\n\nDEAR RIES,--\n\nThe Symphony is to be dedicated to the Empress of Russia. The pianoforte\nscore of the Symphony in A must not, however, appear before June, for the\npublisher here cannot be ready sooner. Pray, dear Ries, inform Mr. Birchall\nof this at once. The Sonata with violin accompaniment, which will be sent\nfrom here by the next post, can likewise be published in London in May, but\nthe Trio at a later date (it follows by the next post); I will myself name\nthe time for its publication. And now, dear Ries, pray receive my heartfelt\nthanks for your kindness, and especially for the corrections of the proofs.\nMay Heaven bless you more and more, and promote your progress, in which I\ntake the most sincere interest. My kind regards to your wife. Now as ever,\n\nYour sincere friend,\n\nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "RIES",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 172 — TO G. DEL RIO.",
    "body": "1816.\n\nI heard yesterday evening, unluckily at too late an hour, that you had\nsomething to give me; had it not been for this, I would have called on you.\nI beg, however, that you will send it, as I have no doubt it is a letter\nfor me from the \"Queen of the Night.\"[1] Although you gave me permission to\nfetch Carl twice already, I must ask you to let him come to me when I send\nfor him at eleven o'clock to-morrow, as I wish to take him with me to hear\nsome interesting music. It is also my intention to make him play to me\nto-morrow, as it is now some time since I heard him. I hope you will urge\nhim to study more closely than usual to-day, that he may in some degree\nmake up for his holiday. I embrace you cordially, and remain,\n\nYours truly,\n\nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.\n\n[Footnote 1: The \"Queen of the Night\" was the name given to Carl's mother\nby Beethoven. She was a person of great levity of conduct and bad\nreputation, and every effort was made by Beethoven to withdraw her son from\nher influence, on which account he at once removed him from her care, and\nplaced him in this institution. She consequently appealed to the law\nagainst him,--the first step in a long course of legal proceedings of the\nmost painful nature.]",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "G. DEL RIO",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 186 — TO HERR KAUKA.",
    "body": "Baden, Sept. 6, 1816.\n\nMY WORTHY K.,--\n\nI send you herewith the receipt, according to your request, and beg that\nyou will kindly arrange that I should have the money by the 1st October,\nand without any deduction, which has hitherto been the case; I also\nparticularly beg _you will not assign the money to Baron P._ (I will tell\nyou why when we meet; for the present let this remain between ourselves.)\nSend it either direct to myself, or, if it must come through another\nperson, do not let it be Baron P. It would be best for the future, as the\nhouse-rent is paid here for the great house belonging to Kinsky, that my\nmoney should be paid at the same time. This is only my own idea. The Terzet\nyou heard of will soon be engraved, which is infinitely preferable to all\nwritten music; you shall therefore receive an engraved copy, and likewise\nsome more of my unruly offspring. In the mean time I beg that you will see\nonly what is truly good in them, and look with an indulgent eye on the\nhuman frailties of these poor innocents. Besides, I am full of cares, being\nin reality father to my late brother's child; indeed I might have ushered\ninto the world a second part of the \"Flauto Magico,\" having also been\nbrought into contact with a \"Queen of the Night.\" I embrace you from my\nheart, and hope soon in so far to succeed that you may owe some thanks to\nmy Muse. My dear, worthy Kauka, I ever am your truly attached friend,\n\nBEETHOVEN.\n\n\n187.\n\nQUERY?\n\nWhat would be the result were I to leave this, and indeed the kingdom of\nAustria altogether? Would the life-certificate, if signed by the\nauthorities of a non-Austrian place, still be valid?\n\n_A tergo._\n\nI beg you will let me know the postage all my letters have cost you.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "HERR KAUKA",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 190 — TO WEGELER.",
    "body": "I take the opportunity through J. Simrock to remind you of myself. I hope\nyou received the engraving of me [by Letronne], and likewise the Bohemian\nglass. When I next make a pilgrimage through Bohemia you shall have\nsomething more of the same kind. Farewell! You are a husband and a father;\nso am I, but without a wife. My love to your dear ones--to _our_ dear ones.\n\nYour friend,\n\nL. V. BEETHOVEN.\n\n\n191.\n\nWRITTEN IN ENGLISH TO MR. BIRCHALL, MUSIC SELLER, LONDON.\n\nVienna, 1. Oct. 1816.\n\nMY DEAR SIR,--\n\nI have duly received the £5 and thought previously you would non increase\nthe number of Englishmen neglecting their word and honor, as I had the\nmisfortune of meeting with two of this sort. In replic to the other topics\nof your favor, I have no objection to write variations according to your\nplan, and I hope you will not find £30 too much, the Accompaniment will be\na Flute or Violin or a Violoncello; you'll either decide it when you send\nme the approbation of the price, or you'll leave it to me. I expect to\nreceive the songs or poetry--the sooner the better, and you'll favor me\nalso with the probable number of Works of Variations you are inclined to\nreceive of me. The Sonata in G with the accompan't of a Violin to his\nImperial Highnesse Archduke Rodolph of Austria--it is Op'a 96. The Trio in\nBb is dedicated to the same and is Op. 97. The Piano arrangement of the\nSymphony in A is dedicated to the Empress of the Russians--meaning the Wife\nof the Emp'r Alexander--Op. 98.\n\nConcerning the expences of copying and packing it is not possible to fix\nhim before hand, they are at any rate not considerable, and you'll please\nto consider that you have to deal with a man of honor, who will not charge\none 6p. more than he is charged for himself. Messrs. Fries & Co. will\naccount with Messrs. Coutts & Co.--The postage may be lessened as I have\nbeen told. I offer you of my Works the following new ones. A Grand Sonata\nfor the Pianoforte alone £40. A Trio for the Piano with accomp't of Violin\nand Violoncello for £50. It is possible that somebody will offer you other\nworks of mine to purchase, for ex. the score of the Grand Symphony in\nA.--With regard to the arrangement of this Symphony for the Piano I beg you\nnot to forget that you are not to publish it until I have appointed the day\nof its publication here in Vienna. This cannot be otherwise without making\nmyself guilty of a dishonorable act--but the Sonata with the Violin and the\nTrio in B fl. may be published without any delay.\n\nWith all the _new works_, which you will have of me or which I offer you,\nit rests with you to name the day of their publication at your own choice:\nI entreat you to honor me as soon as possible with an answer having many\nordres for compositions and that you may not be delayed. My address or\ndirection is\n\nMonsieur Louis van Beethoven\n\nNo. 1055 & 1056 Sailerstette 3d. Stock. Vienna.\n\nYou may send your letter, if you please, direct to your most humble servant\n\nLUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "WEGELER",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  },
  {
    "heading": "No. 195 — TO G. DEL RIO.",
    "body": "Nov. 16, 1816.\n\nMY DEAR FRIEND,--\n\nMy household seems about to make shipwreck, or something very like it. You\nknow that I was duped into taking this house on false pretexts; besides, my\nhealth does not seem likely to improve in a hurry. To engage a tutor under\nsuch circumstances, whose character and whose very exterior even are\nunknown to me, and thus to intrust my Carl's education to hap-hazard, is\nquite out of the question, no matter how great the sacrifices which I shall\nbe again called on to make. I beg you, therefore, to keep Carl for the\nensuing quarter, commencing on the 9th. I will in so far comply with your\nproposal as to the cultivation of the science of music, that Carl may come\nto me two or three times a week, leaving you at six o'clock in the evening\nand staying with me till the following morning, when he can return to you\nby eight o'clock. It would be too fatiguing for Carl to come every day, and\nindeed too great an effort and tie for me likewise, as the lessons must be\ngiven at the same fixed hour.\n\nDuring this quarter we can discuss more minutely the most suitable plan for\nCarl, taking into consideration both his interests and my own. I must,\nalas! mention my own also in these times, which are daily getting worse. If\nyour garden residence had agreed with my health, everything might have been\neasily adjusted. With regard to my debt to you for the present quarter, I\nbeg you will be so obliging as to call on me, that I may discharge it; the\nbearer of this has the good fortune to be endowed by Providence with a vast\namount of stupidity, which I by no means grudge him the benefit of,\nprovided others do not suffer by it. As to the remaining expenses incurred\nfor Carl, either during his illness or connected with it, I must, for a few\ndays only, request your indulgence, having great calls on me at present\nfrom all quarters. I wish also to know what fee I ought to give Smetana for\nthe successful operation he performed; were I rich, or not in the same sad\nposition in which all are who have linked their fate to this country\n(always excepting _Austrian usurers_), I would make no inquiries on the\nsubject; and I only wish you to give me a rough estimate of the proper fee.\nFarewell! I cordially embrace you, and shall always look on you as a friend\nof mine and of Carl's.\n\nI am, with esteem, your\n\nL. V. BEETHOVEN.",
    "author": "Ludwig van Beethoven",
    "recipient": "G. DEL RIO",
    "source": "Beethoven's Letters 1790–1826",
    "period": "1790–1826"
  }
]